Cloudland Canyon Fall Splendor Day Trip - preceding AOC outing at gorgeous Lula Falls on same afternoon

IN A NUTSHELL:   Known for its beautiful vistas, brilliant fall foliage, spectacular waterfalls and incredible hiking trails, Cloudland Canyon is considered by many (including me!) to be the "#1 crown jewel" of Georgia's State Parks.  An easy 2-hour or less drive from Atlanta, it's just south of Chattanooga, where over the millennia powerful streams have cut steep-walled canyons and waterfalls into the western rim of Lookout Mountain.  On this "fall splendor" trip we'll enjoy a series of hikes to vista points along the top of the canyon - also to plummeting waterfalls deep inside the canyon via an amazing trail network and stairway.  We'll have lunch together from our day packs at a scenic overlook atop the canyon. (See "Items to Bring" sections below.)

WE'LL ALL MEET at 10:00 AM at CLOUDLAND CANYON STATE PARK.  Also feel free to CARPOOL up with us, if you like, meeting 2 hours earlier.
- Near the base of this article see precise Directions & GPS Info for both Gathering Spots.
- Carpooling Option:  Meet me at 8:00 AM in the free Park & Ride Lot near Marietta on Busbee Drive - just off the I-75 "Chastain Road" Exit, #271.
- Non-Carpoolers and Carpoolers:  Drive to the main visitors' Parking Lot at Cloudland Canyon State Park, where we'll all gather at 10:00 AM beside the Restroom Building.

Optional AOC event at nearby LULA FALLS & LAKE beginning just after this Hiking event!  This trip has been specially planned to immediately precede our Club's "exclusive-use" service trip to gorgeous Lula Falls - also on Lookout Mountain and just a few miles NE of Cloudland Canyon at Lula Lake Land Trust.  Click here to see that separate article with all the Details & Options:  https://www.atlantaoutdoorclub.com/event/details.asp?eventid=16056    When our Cloudland hiking event is over (at ~2:00 PM) you and your party are welcome to caravan over to Lula Lake with us and see the gorgeous Waterfall, etc. regardless of whether you're able to stay, camp and volunteer!  Campers can set up beginning Sunday afternoon near the incredible 100' Waterfall, and can stay at no charge as late as Noon Tuesday before we break camp and depart.  Our Lula Lake Trail Work project is scheduled for 10:00 AM - ~2:00 PM on Monday.

More about Cloudland Canyon State Park:  Founded in 1938 it boasts more than 3000 acres of amazing terrain with 1100 feet of vertical elevation between its lowest and highest points  The steep twin canyons cut by Daniel Creek and Bear Creek join one another hundreds of feet below the mesa-like mountaintop, forming the deeper, wider "Sitton Gulch Creek" canyon and numerous scenic waterfalls, cascades and pools.  The photo above was shot from the Park's central overlook looking northward into the main canyon.

For an excellent color Map of Cloudland Canyon and its Trails, click: https://gastateparks.org/sites/default/files/parks/pdf/trailmaps/CloudlandCanyon_TrailMap.pdf

For some great Cloudland Canyon photos click this link to Joyce Taaffes's colorful shots of our AOC group dayhike in October 2014: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153485967570260&type=1&l=94ef930f85

More nice Park photos: http://images.google.com/images? hl=en&q=%22cloudland+canyon%22+photos&um=1&ie=UTF- 8&ei=o4R-S7z- PJPflAe4ouTEDQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum =1&ved=0CBcQsAQwAA

DIRECTIONS to our Gathering Spot inside CLOUDLAND CANYON STATE PARK:  (It's about 110 miles from the I-75/ I-285 Interchange in NW Atlanta.  For a zoomable map & satellite view of this spot click the square blue & green "Event Location" icon near the top of this article.)
1.  From the I-75/ I-285 Interchange take I-75 North about 60 miles to Exit #320, "GA Hwy 136."
2.  Turn Left onto GA-136 West and carefully follow the GA-136 signs about 48 miles (through several sharp turns) to the Cloudland Canyon State Park entrance on your right.  It's just 0.8 mile beyond the junction of GA-136 with GA-189, the "Lookout Mtn Pkwy." [Optional extra notes for this scenic GA-136 drive between I-75 and the State Park entrance:  En route you'll pass through the towns of Villanow, Lafayette, and Cooper Heights, GA and drive up the steep eastern slope of Lookout Mtn.  Be esp. vigilant for the GA-136 signs when bypassing Lafayette:  There's first a right turn (concurrent with 4-lane US-27) - then another right followed soon by a hard left turn to stay on GA-136 (about 3 miles north of Lafayette).]
3. Our AOC Gathering Spot inside the Park:  Turn Right (off GA-136) to enter Cloudland Canyon State Park's main "Park Road."   After stopping briefly at the small entrance kiosk continue driving straight ahead about 1-1/4 miles (northward) to the Park's main parking lot (which adjoins the central Canyon overlook).  We'll gather there beside the Restroom Building a few minutes before 10:00.
If you didn't already pay your $5 daily parking fee at the entrance station there's a self-service envelope & windshield-display system in the parking lot.  Also it's fine to display a GA-DNR annual parking pass if you have one.  (Many public libraries throughout GA have these State Park parking passes available to loan out at no charge.)
GPS and GOOGLE MAPS USERS:  Feel free to augment the above step-by-step directions by entering the following concise Lat/Lon as your Destination Address for our Park gathering spot (as you would a street address, but be sure to include the decimal points, comma & minus sign): 34.8347, -85.4799